Skate



(No Model.)

T. W. BRYANT.

SKATE.

i UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

THOMAS W. BRYANT, OF TORRINGTON, CONNECTICUT.

SKATE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 475,926, dated May 31, 1892.

Application filed December 21, 1891. Serial No. 415,746. (No model.)

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS W'. BRYANT, a citizen of the United States, residing at Torrington, in the county of Litchfield and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Skates; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as Will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to certain novel and useful improvements in skates, but more particularly to that class of skates having blades of great length, but of relatively thin steel, such as are now used for racing. Owing to this peculiarity of the blade it is necessary that it shall be rigidly backed or supported, and the nearer this backing or support extends toward the lower edge of the blade the stiffer and better the skate will be. In making these skates it is now customary to mount the blades in the old-fashioned wooden foot-piece, which is clumsy and less ornamental than an all-metal construction, and, furthermore, such Wooden foot-pieces are not well adapted for the attachment of clamping-levers or similar fastenings.

It is the object of my invention to provide a racing-skate simple in construction and of very great rigidity, to which any approved form of clamping device may be applied, and which shall, moreover, be of reasonably graceful appearance; and with these ends in view my invention consists in the construction and combination of elements hereinafter cX- plained, and then recited in the claims.

Referring to the drawings which form a part of this specilication,Figure l shows my improved skate in side elevation. Fig. 2 is a vertical transverse section on the line y y of Fig. l. Fig. 3 is a vertical section of amodified form of my invention, and Fig. 4 a further modification.

The blade of the skate l is in practice and by preference about fifteen or eighteen inches in length, one-sixteenth of an inch in thickness, and, say, one-half or three-quarters of an inch wide. For the purpose of making a rigid backing for this blade and a suitable attachment for the heel and sole plates I employ two strips or plates of metal which are corrugated longitudinally, as seen at 2, and lie one upon either side of the blade with their parallel lower edges extending downward over the latter to within, say, half an inch of the edge, as seen at 8. In this position they are firmly secured by rivets 4.. Above the corrugations (see Fig. 2) the edges of these strips lie close together, as seen at 5, and on top of them thesole and heel plates 6 and 7 are secured by rivets S and angle-bars 9. This not only secures the plates but holds the strips together. To the heel and sole plates any suitable style of fastenings or clamps may be applied.

In Fig. 3 I have shown aslight modification of the construction shown at the two preceding iigureswhich consists in turning the upper edges of the corrugated strips outward at right angles to form iianges 10 and riveting them directly against the face of the soleplate. In Fig. 4 I show another slight modiiication in which the opposed walls of the strips, as at l2, are oppositely curved instead of formed with corrugations, and this forms an essentially tubular skate-body. In this construction the skate-blade is made slightly wider and extending upward rests against the bottom of the sole and heel plates. This makes a slightly-lower style of skate than that shown at Figs. l and 2, but is equally as rigid. The upper edges of the strips between and in front and behind the plates may in either of the constructions, if desired, be secured together-as, for instance, by supplemental rivets Il.

In this invention I do not wish to be confined to the exact details of construction herein shown and described, since these may be varied in many minor details without departing from the essentials of my invention, which comprise the long thin blade, the opposed curved or corrugated plates with their lower edges lying against the sides of said blades, and the footplates secured to the upper edges of the supporting-strips.-

I claim* l. A racing-skate consisting of a long and relatively-thin blade, a pair of corrugated supporting-plates having their lower edges lying against the sides of the blade and secured thereto, and foot-plates mounted on the said corrugated plates, substantially as set forth.

2. The blade l, in combination with the corrugated supporting-plates embracing the upper edge ofthe blade and secured thereto and forming a backing therefor, and the sole and heel plates secured upon the upper edges of said supporting plates, substantially as specified.

3. In a skate, the blade, in combination with a skate-body formed of opposed plates extending substantially the entire length of the blade and whose edges are secured to and support the blade, and a sole-plate and heelplate secured to the top edges of said plates, substantially as and for the purpose setforth.

4. A racing-skate consisting of a long and relativelythin blade, a pair of corrugated 15 stil'ening-plates extending substantially the entire length of said blade and having their lower edges lying against the opposite side of said blade and secured thereto, and suitable foot-plates for the support` of the skate-fast- 2o enings, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I altix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

THOS. W. BRYANT. Witnesses:

LEWIS M. JONES, CHAs. L. MoNEIL. 

